Returning students to full in-person learning was not a priority for MSAD 51.
Emails and other school records produced in response to a FOAA request show that MSAD 51 school officials had not spent any time in February planning for a potential return to in-person school, and were prioritizing other issues such as the forthcoming budget and planning for a new school. When other districts began to change course, the MSAD 51 administration sought to rally teachers against any in-person schooling and worked hard to hold the line against growing parental concerns.
In early February, Cumberland resident Nick Begin was perusing a post from the COVID School Tracker on the Cumberland North Yarmouth Residents Facebook Page, when he posted:
“Time to go back 5 days a week! These kids need some normalcy to end the year.”
Many other parents chimed in their support. #backto5 began trending.
“My fear is that we’ve become complacent,” wrote Begin, who has three daughters in MSAD 51.
On Feb. 9, Begin wrote to Superintendent Porter’s administrative assistant.
“What is the best process or who is the best person to speak to about getting our kids back in the classroom 5 days a week?”
And by Feb. 26, Begin started the Facebook Page Back to Five with the sole purpose to “get our kids back to in-person instruction 5 days a week.”
That move caught the attention of Board of Directors Chairman Tyler McGinley. She emailed the Superintendent a “heads up” on that Saturday: “[Y]esterday a parent group was formed called Backto5 as an effort to get the district back to five days a week. The group has 150 members just from last night. . . I will keep an eye on the dialogue.”
In other email exchanges with McGinley and school administrators and parents, Porter expresses surprise at parents’ desire to return to full-time in-person learning and repeatedly characterizes the group as small. As late as the end of March, Porter tells several parents that no one was even talking about returning to GREEN until that month.
Yet earlier in February, Porter had warned the Board Members in an email of “growing feedback from parents about having our schools open in Green sooner than later.”
In that Feb. 12 exchange, Porter reminded the board that returning to 100 percent in-person learning this school year was a non-starter. He repeated talking points that he planned to share in a community letter after break. These included:
despite large numbers of people becoming vaccinated herd immunity would not happen until later this spring or summer;
there were still unknowns regarding the vaccine and a new virus variant;
the state social distancing guidelines will likely stay in place through the end of the school year;
the district did not have full staff available due to COVID-19 child care and medical leaves.
Peter Bingham, a board member from Cumberland, responded to the email thanking Porter for his diligence and said State officials should take more responsibility for limiting the district’s choices.
Porter wrote back in agreement: “The DOE could reiterate this in a statement why going green doesn’t make sense. But this is a local control state (kind of) and they like us to handle our own problems. Still scratching my head about Biddeford. [Biddeford had returned elementary students in person 4 days a week since fall 2021] No one else is thinking this way from what I’ve gathered.”
And that same week, Porter sent another email to a concerned parent who asked a second time how the district planned to go 100 percent GREEN in the fall, since it seemed to have given up on it for this spring.
Porter promised that a plan for the fall was coming—but also suggested that it would not take much planning at all. The district had other large priorities such as the 21-22 budget, and staying on schedule for the new school planning, he said.
“Given that this is February,” Porter wrote, “we do not have a plan for the upcoming year built yet. If the district does go GREEN in the fall, that means that we are largely able to transition back to fully in-person learning.”
He continued: “There will be accommodations to get there, but it means we are operating in a more typical fashion. If we are not operating more typically, and have to make a lot of accommodations, then this means we are not yet ready to be in GREEN and should continue in YELLOW. In other words, an extensive plan for moving back to GREEN should not be necessary; if it is, we're not ready.”
Porter responded on February 11 to another parent inquiring about returning to normal in the fall and shared with the rest of the board.
“For next year,” Porter wrote, “this remains to be seen of course, but the administration is beginning to plan as if we will be GREEN in September and I am hopeful we can stay on this course.”
Board Member Mike Williams responded to Porter’s comments that Williams had heard from a number of parents that the hybrid model “is taking a toll.”
However, Williams said he would not “quibble” with the district’s plans for this spring, but that Porter should reemphasize a full commitment to reopening in the fall.
“I think it would offer a lot of assurance to people in the community to know that we are approaching September from a place of normalcy, or however close we can get to it,” Williams wrote.
Other emails shared with Porter from school superintendents in Cumberland County show officials in other districts were looking at providing more in-person learning and/or leaving behind the hybrid model in early 2021.
In January, the superintendent in SAD 15 (Gray-New Gloucester) wrote the governor asking to prioritize vaccines for teachers. The Brunswick Superintendent also lobbied the governor.
On Feb. 10, Pat Hayden, superintendent of Lakes Region Schools, said that “the lack of vaccinations for teachers is the biggest single thing preventing all of us from bringing back students full time. If our teachers were vaccinated in time for students to fully return after April vacation it would be so welcome by our school community and that would be my energetic push.”
Xavier Botana, superintendent of Portland Public Schools, agreed with Hayden and said he would ask for a similar resolution from Portland’s board members.
Then on, Feb. 12, the Yarmouth School Committee sent a resolution to Gov. Janet Mills and the Maine Center for Disease Control asking state officials to designate all pre-K to 12 school personnel as critical frontline workers and prioritize them for COVID-19 vaccines.
On Feb. 24, Falmouth Schools superintendent wrote to the other superintendents that the Falmouth School Board voted to increase in-person time starting after April break.
Porter replied to the superintendents group that his district has “stayed the course.”
“I sent out a letter to parents Wednesday saying I have no plans to go GREEN before the end of the school year,” Porter wrote. “I am getting more pressure from parents to go GREEN as they look around the region, but I am not changing course. This pandemic is not over and the MDOE physical distancing guidelines have not changed, which prevents us from safely going Green. I have been asked how other districts are doing this, and I have said that is not for me to answer. This is truly a sticking point.”
On Friday morning, Feb. 26, Porter wrote to the principals of MSAD 51’s schools.
“I hate to do this to you but Monday night’s BOD meeting has a workshop with Post-Pandemic planning on the agenda. There has been more and more pressure on board members this week to move the district to GREEN this school year ...”
He asked the principals to attend Monday’s meeting at the Greely Center for the Arts and speak specifically about “how going GREEN this school year would be very problematic.”
Porter then asked Scott Poulin to talk about the “challenges this would pose on transportation custodial, etc.
He closed the email repeating his request: “Please confirm that you can attend and would be able to speak to reasons why GREEN would be very challenging.”
Carol McArthur, principal of Greely Middle School 4-5, wrote back that she would do the assignment. She said: “I do worry a little bit about being put in a position of sounding like the “nay-sers” (sic) I hope we can frame what we share in what it would take to open in GREEN rather than why it would be problematic.”
Later in the afternoon on Friday, Feb. 26, Porter sent to board members talking points about the 21-22 calendar, new school planning and a post-pandemic planning session for the upcoming board meeting. Board member Kate Perrin asked: “IF the state lifts distancing guidelines before the end of this year for schools, will GREEN be an option?”
Porter responded: “I was on a call with county superintendents and DOE was on call and I asked this question – looks like very little chance these guidelines will shift this year.”
Porter also stopped in to discuss the March 1 meeting with Joan Guild, a GHS teacher who serves as the teacher’s association representative for the district. Porter told her to help lobby against going GREEN. She then wrote emails asking for teachers to speak against GOING GREEN at the meeting.
And over the weekend, Porter continued to email teachers, administrators and board members. Several quote Porter as telling them that he expects the meeting to be “tough.”
Porter wrote to McGinley: “Just letting you know, I have received a ton of emails from parents about going green now. Going to be an interesting next week, lots of pressure. I’m holding firm with parents -FYI.”
Guild wrote to teachers on Sunday evening: “[Porter] told the teachers that he had asked the principals to articulate why GOING GREEN would not work in each building and he thought the teachers would like to speak to the issue as well. He mentioned that people in the community were asking whether Wednesday planning days could be eliminated to allow for more in-person time.”
Joan Guild reached out via email to several educators throughout the district on Sunday, Feb. 28. Guild wrote that she understands why people want school attendance back to “normal” and also why some teachers might want to as well.
“But the bottom line is that we are all at risk of COVID-19 still!...I think those jumping on this movement to go green have lost sight of the facts!”
Monday morning, March 1, Porter alerted the Instructional District Leadership Team that a parent group called Backto5 had organized and had a lot of parents.
“There are similar groups in other communities and at our supt. meeting Friday we talked about how this is quickly unraveling.”
Five days later, Porter wrote to the Instructional District Leadership Team and Scott Poulin, a district administrator, again as Porter listened in to the county superintendent meeting. Cumberland County schools are preparing for full-time or close to full-time in-person learning later this spring, Porter wrote, warning that some superintendents think the state might “buckle” this spring and end distancing. Porter suggested MSAD 51 leadership start thinking about a plan to return to 4 days a week after April break.
“If we don’t prepare, we might end up being unprepared if the DOE/CDC flips suddenly.”
He closed his email with: “I’m not losing any sleep this weekend over this, but wanted you to at least start thinking.”
Superintendent Porter and all Board Members were given an opportunity to clarify and comment on this article. They declined.
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